Samuel harden



S. MARDEN.

PeafMachine,

Patented Jam 1, 1867.

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SAMUEL MARDEN OF NEWTON MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGN OR TO HIMSELF AND DUSTIN .LANCEK'OF SAME PLACE.

Letters Patent No. 60,918, elated Janu 1 1867 Instances AT moms.

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TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL MARDEN, of Newton, in the county of Middlesex, and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and improved Peat Machine and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, makingapart of this specification, of whic e Figure 1 is. vertical section through the hopper and perforated table of the machine. Figure 2 is a top view or .plan of ditto.- v Figure 3 is a vertical section through themonld carrier- Figure 4-i,s* a. sideelevation of the machine, Figure 5 is a view of the top of the mould carrier.

Figure 6 is a view of the top of the revolvingbeater.

Figure 7 is an end elevation of the revolving heater. A represents the-flexible perforated apron or table. 15' the revolving heater; 0 the hopper or box of machine, (1 its open cover, and a its sieve, 6 its inclined bottom, 0 its pointed guide or chute. the driving shaft; 11 cam for actuating sieve arm'e; f worm on shaft D tocngage with and drive the worm gear g on upright.

hollowshaft h of revolving circular mould carrier E i ii, 870., radial grooves of mould carrier, and klc E, StcL, its. spring abutments; Zits cam for actuating the sliding moulds m-m' m1. 860.; :r-the guard for compressing, the peat; 5 the knife for cleaning the outer surface of the mould carrier; pp the spiral springs of the moulds.

There is a great variety of'peat machines, but all aim at the same result, namely, to prepare peat for market in the quickest and best possible shape, The reason why so many machines fail, and are comparatively useless, is because of their complexity in structure, and consequently the expense in making and running them, and liability to get out of order. My machine issimple in structure, and easily repaired when out oforder, cheap, performs its work rapidly, and leaves the product in merchantable order. g V To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, lwillproceed 'to des'cribe'its construction and operation.

1. As to its construction. By referring to the accompanying drawings, a very" correct idea maybe had of its several parts. A represents a flexible apron or table into and upon which peat fronrthe bogsis thrown.- It is double and perforated, the space between being filled with some porous substance, through; which water may escape while the solid is retained, but I may use any perforated or proper material in its place. Bis the revolving beater. (See drawings, figs. 1, 6', and 7.) It consistsof adrum made ofbrass, or other suitable material, and firmly attached to the driving shaft. This drum has firmly set in it, longitudinellyond at vdiiferont angles, strips of steel projecting, say, quarter of an inch from the drum. These strips are notchedlbnt arranged consecutively in different directions, like saw teeth. The number of strips, the angles at which they are set, and the fineness of the teeth may vary, but the object is to tear topieces and rednceto'fineness or too paste the crude peat. I may use, however, iron orlother metal suitable for the purpose for the teeth. The driving shaft 1) is, made of iron or steel, atone end of which is applied the power propelling the machine, and at the other end is the worm f, which engages and drives the gear attachcd to the nprigh-tshaft k in drawings.) This shaft has also upon it, near the propelling power, a cam, d; its use is, when the shaft revolves,tooperate on the sieve arm e in such a. manner as to shake the sieve. (See figs. 2 and 7 in drawings.) The driving shaft carrying the heater is placed over the bend of the apron and rests upon the frame ofthem'achine. (See figs. I, 2, andv 4 in drawings.) Over the heater is a cover of, sheet metal-other material may be usedscrewcd or fastened upon the 'open wooden frame a; this frame is hung upon hinges, and may be opened when necessary. Thesieve a is a commoncoarse sieve, through which the reduced'peat fall's intothe; hopper C. This hopper, madev of wood, and of any desirable size, has an inclined bottom Z1, (see fig. drawings,);its lowest inclination being on a level with the radial grooves of the mould carrier; it has also a pointed guide'or chutec. (See figs. 1 and. The inclined bottom and chute are for the purpose of conducting more readily andwithout clogging the reduced peat into the radial grooves. h is the upright revolving shaft. (See figs. 3 and 4.); Qn its upper end isthe gear connected with the worm gear onthe driving shaft. 'When the machine is operated by steam power the shaft is designed to be hollow for the purpose of allowing steam tocirculate in it, as, also, steam may be introduced and circulate in the moulds, grooves, and open spaces in the mould carrier for the purpose of keeping the machinery warm, causing it tofivork more'easily. Next the gear also, is a clamp or guide surrounding theshaft and made fast to the frame of-the machine to keep it steadysand in place; the lower end of the shaft is fastened to a plate screwed to the spring abutments, k k, &c.,'and the plate has also a socket projecting upward, into which the shaft passes and is thus made more secure, being firmly soldered. The lower end of the shaft also slips on to a pin 'or pivot projecting into the shaft, say an inch or more, which pin or pivot passes through the sums cam b and is firmly fastened to the bottom of the machine. This pivot has also two shoulders, the upper made square. (See drawings, fig. 5.) This shift and pivot are made of iron or steel. The c am, Z, is for actuating the sliding moulds; it is immovable, kept in place by the square upper shoulder of the pivot, the lower shoulder of the pivot, on which it partially rests, the frame of .the circular mould, and the plate above, which is fastened to, the shaft; it is elliptical-in form, or nearly so, with an elevation on the side nearest the guard, or what nearly resembles a segment cut from the side thereof, the point of cutting--1r1oving from right to left-being in line,- or nearly so, with the centre of the pivot and the left extremity of the guard n. This form of the cam will be explained hereafter. The sliding moulds, m m, &c., are made square at the outer extremity androuuded at the other end, always pressing more'or lcss an inst the cam;,they slide back forth in the radial grooves, it,

as, pushed-by the spiral springs n a, &c., they are also kept in place partially by the fixed spring abutments Zak, 860. (See fig. 5 in drawings.) n is the guard for compressing the peat} it ismade in the form of the segment of a circle; it is fastened to the bottom of-the frameof the machine, covering the side and partially the top of the circular mould carrier, and extendingsay nearly one-third of the perimeter of the circular mould, carrier, as seen at fig. 2 drawings. The revolving circular mould carrier, E, is well represented by the figs. 5 and 2 in drawings; it is moved by the upright shaft, revolving also about the pivot-beibre described; it is made of brass, as also is the cam Z, the sliding moulds, the guard, and the spiral springs, and the spring abutments, which are a part of the mould carriert but Ido not confine myself to the use of brass, but may use other metals. The number of .moulds of course varies with the sizeof the machine. The use of, the knife, 0,

is simply to clean or keep clear the circular mould. I o

Having thus described the structure of the machine, I will now explain its made of operation.

The peat is taken in its crude state and thrown in and upon the apron, where it comes under the teeth of the revolving beater, which tears or grinds the mass into a paste, and in the revolution the ground 'peat is thrown or falls upon the sieve, being also prevented from passing over the drum by a slide or'knii'e extending the length of heater and sliding down to the teeth. The motion of the sieve causes it to fall through into the hopper, and being moist, and the bottomof the hopper being inclined, the peat readily falls into and fills the radial grooves, as, in the revolution of the circular mould carrier, the grooves pass under the hopper. It will be seen by examining fig. 3'of the drawings that the shapeof the cam is such that when the radial grooves come under the hopper the sliding moulds are farthest withdrawn from the outer rim of the mould carrier by the action of the spiral springs so when the grooves, filled with peat from the hopper, go under the guard, a, the pressure of the ends of the moulds begins against the peat enclosed in the grooves between the end of the grooves and the side of the guard. This pressure increases while the grooves are under theLguand, compressing the point, of course, into a small space, and somewhat into the shape of a brick. As the "grooves pass out from under the guard, the sliding moulds still pressing harder against the peat, the'peat, of course, would crumble and break but for the peculiar shape of the cam Z. As the end of the slidingmould passes the elevation or the point where the segment is cut oil, the mould slides the width of its outer end without pressure, which allows-the wholeanass to be pressed equally upon when the pressure begins again, so that the mass is pressed and falls 05' unbroken ,before; it reaches the knife, and thus the work'is completed.-

The' great advantage gained by my machine over others now in use is its simplicity in construction, and consequently the cost of making .will be much less than any other now in useil The machine is easily repaired when out of order, and, having but few levers and joints, it is little likely to g'etiout of order; It is, therefore, a cheap machine; it is also novel, operating in a'manner unlike any new in use; leaves its product in good, marketable shape, and is, therefore, of practical advantage tothe public.

I'am aware that the United States issued Letters Patent to E H. Ashcroft, of Lynn, Massachusetts, of date April 24, 1866, for an improvement in peat machines, in which was a revolving cylinder with pins set in it for breaking up peat, with appliances for draining connected therewith. I disclaim his invention, I am aware, also, that Letters Patent of the United States were issued to (l. Marsh, of date July 24:, 1860, for a cracker machine. I disclaimhis invention. v v

i What I 'claim as my invention,-aud desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. I claim the tearing apparatus, composed of metallic plates, notched iu the manner of saw-plates,set and arranged at diil'creut angles in the drum-beater B, in combination with theflexible apron A. v

2. I clpim'the" vibrating sieve operated upon by'the cam d, as appliedto or in combination with peat machines, substantially'as described. I i

3. I claim the cam d, arranged and operating upon the sieve arm e,-so asto sift the reduced peat, substan-.' tially as described.

4. I claim the cam Z, so constructed and arranged, with respect to the sliding moulds m m, &c and the guard n, that the pressure on the guard by the sliding moulds ceases for a space equalto the width of the sliding moulds as they emerge from the guard.

5. I claim the-circular mould carrier E, revolving about the fixed cam Z, as combined and arranged with the compressing guard at, it being also provided with radial grooves it, &c., converging toward its centre and supporting sliding moulds mm, &c operated uponby the cam Z and the spiral springs 10 p', &c., which keep the sliding moulds in proximity to the cam, all combined and arranged for the purpose of compressin'gpeat, and as appliedto peat machines, substantially as described.

' p SAML MARDEN.

Witnesses:

J. L. Nnw'ron,

E. R. DRAKE. 

